Dante

Dante is the main protagonist in the Devil May Cry series. He is the second son of Sparda and Eva, and the younger twin brother of Vergil. As such, he is a half-demon, half-human hybrid. Dante is a mercenary dedicated to exterminating demons, a mission he follows in pursuit of those that killed his mother and corrupted his brother.

Pre-games
Sometime before their eighth birthday, Eva gave Dante and Vergil each a half of the Perfect Amulet.

Eventually, Sparda died, and Eva and the twins were left alone. When Dante was eight years old, he and his family were attacked by demons. Eva was killed, and though both Vergil and Dante survived, the twins were separated, and Dante believed Vergil to have died.

At some point after this, Dante met Enzo and began a demon-hunting business under the alias Anthony "Tony" Redgrave.

Devil May Cry 3 manga
After a shower, Dante eats a pizza until Enzo enters his shop and notifies him of a job. Later, Dante goes to Enzo's room at a brothel and finds demons in it, then kills them using Ebony and Ivory. He sees a leaflet stating that if someone were to find a missing girl named Alice, there would be a four million dollar reward. After a small fight with Enzo, Dante accepts the job, and heads out to find the girl.

Dante goes with Enzo to a castle, only to find demons. After going through a few fights, he finds out that Alice had run away with a demon "Rabi", who has possessed her rabbit doll. After a heated discussion between Dante and Rabi, and another demon, Rabi tells Dante that the human world is crooked, that Alice had run away because she was neither beautiful nor strong, something that was necessary for someone to be recognized in the human world. Rabi told Dante that although Alice had purity, purity was not recognized by humans, and that only demons still valued it. After he strips Alice of her purity, and transforms her into what the humans would consider beautiful, Alice starts to flirt with Dante, stating that she always knew her prince would come. Dante tells her that dreams like that can quickly become nightmares, and Alice transforms into a demon, then attacks Dante by biting him in the neck. This triggers a transformation in Dante, causing him to take on a shadowy shape similar to his Majin Form, which he uses to knock her out. He then reverts back to his human form, impressing Rabi. Rabi tells Dante that he was the one whom gave Dante the job, annoying Dante, until Rabi tells him that he transferred the four million dollars to his account already. When Dante asks why he did all this, Rabi states that he wanted to see "the legendary son of Sparda" in action. As Dante prepares to leave, Rabi states that he wants to buy his half of the perfect amulet, which Dante refuses to accept, and leaves.

Devil May Cry 3
At the beginning of the game, a younger, cockier Dante is seen in his yet-to-be-named shop. Arkham comes to his shop and invites him to the Temen-ni-gru on behalf of his brother Vergil by sending a few Hell Prides, Lusts and a Hell Vanguard to attack him. Dante, though, effortlessly kills them all, and heads to the tower in search for an interesting time, and it is soon revealed that Vergil is attempting to reopen the portal to the demon world in order to obtain the full power of their father, which remains in the demon world within the Force Edge, Sparda's demon-forged sword. Within the tower, Dante encounters and defeats the demonic gatekeepers who were sealed away by his father, as well as the demon hunter Lady, who is in pursuit of her father Arkham, and the demon Jester, who guides him through the tower for his own reasons. Upon defeating most of these demons, Dante acquires their souls in the form of new weapons and combat styles. Dante, Lady, and Vergil eventually discover that Arkham is Jester, and was using all of them in order to open the portal and acquire the Force Edge for himself, using it as a means to gain Sparda's power. After defeating Arkham in the Demon World, Vergil and Dante duel for the ownership of the Force Edge. In the end of the battle, Dante claims ownership of the Force Edge, while Vergil chooses to remain in the Netherworld.

Dante matures considerably during the game and, inspired by Lady's courage and commitment to her own family, continues his demon hunting business with a greater sense of purpose. They become partners and he decides to call his shop "Devil May Cry", in reference to what Lady said to comfort him over the loss of his brother Vergil.

"'Maybe somewhere out there even a devil may cry when he loses a loved one. Don’t you think?'"

Devil May Cry
Devil May Cry begins with Dante being attacked in his office by a mysterious woman named Trish. He impresses her by easily brushing off her assault, and tells her that he hunts demons in pursuit of those who killed his mother and brother. She says the attack was a test and that the demon emperor Mundus is planning a return at Mallet Island. She takes him to the castle there, but abruptly disappears.

Dante explores the castle, slaying minor demons and finding weapons, and encounters the spiderlike demon, Phantom, while looking for a way to proceed through the castle. Dante wins the battle, but Phantom soon reappears and chases him through the halls of the castle. After further exploration and combat, Dante battles a demon named Nelo Angelo who impresses Dante with his confidence. The demon pins Dante to a nearby wall, but suddenly flees upon seeing the half-amulet Dante wears. The demon attacks twice more in later missions, and is eventually revealed to be Vergil, killed and manipulated by Mundus. After Nelo Angelo's final defeat, his half of the amulet joins with Dante's half-amulet, transforming the Force Edge into its true form, the Sparda.

When Dante next meets Trish, she betrays him and reveals that she is also working for Mundus. She lures Dante into a final fight with the bio-weapon Nightmare, but Dante manages to kill the monster. In the resulting chaos, the room collapses, and Trish is almost crushed. Dante saves her, claiming it was solely because of her resemblance to his mother. Furious because of her betrayal, Dante warns her to stay away from him. Yet when he finally confronts Mundus, who is about to kill Trish, Dante chooses again to save her but is injured. Mundus tries to finish him off, but Trish takes the attack instead. Dante's emotion at this tragedy unleashes his full power, allowing him to take on the form of his father. Afterwards, Dante and Mundus battle on another plane of existence with Dante victorious.

Dante leaves the Perfect Amulet and Sparda sword with Trish's immobile body before departing. However, just as Dante reaches the castle's hangar, Mundus, who is now back to his regular strength, returns and corners Dante. However, Trish also returns and lends Dante her power. Dante is able to defeat Mundus by sealing him away again. When Trish tries to apologize, she begins to cry. Dante tells her that it means she has become human and not just a devil, because "devils never cry". Dante and Trish narrowly escape on a plane as the island collapses. After the credits, it is revealed that Dante and Trish are working together as partners and have renamed the shop to "Devil Never Cry".

Devil May Cry: The Animated Series
Unlike the games, the animated series focuses on Dante's "normal" missions, and his day-to-day life.

On a regular day in the office, Dante is hired to transport a young girl named Patty Lowell to her father's house to receive her inheritance. However, she is revealed to have been a decoy for the true heir, and takes to living with Dante until her mother is found. Other recurring characters include Lady, Trish, Morrison (Dante's liaison, much like Enzo), and Sid, a lesser demon who is later revealed to be the true antagonist of the animated series.

Devil May Cry 4
Everything was set into motion when Lady came to Dante's office, offering a job. She told him about the Order of the Sword—a small congregation in the castle town of Fortuna, which worships Sparda—much to Dante's surprise.

"Dante: 'They worship a demon as a god?'" She explained that there is a legend of Sparda in that he served as a feudal lord at the city a long time ago. She also said that although peaceful worship can't be condemned, the Order's members recently started catching demons and collecting Devil Arms, interfering with her work. Trish, who was present and heard all this, departed with the Sparda sword, leaving a "see you there" message written in lipstick on the hanger. There was nothing for Dante to do but to go to Fortuna after her.

Later it is revealed that the Order's increased activity was because of The Savior - a giant artificial demon brought by the Order, which is only controllable with Sparda's blood and sword. They started creating smaller copies of the true Hell Gate, which they powered with the gathered Devil Arms. These were needed to harvest demons in order to power The Savior, as well as to lure Dante to Fortuna. It seems that Dante became aware of their plan, most likely through Trish, who disguised herself as Gloria and handed over the Sparda sword to infiltrate the Order.

Dante makes his entrance in Fortuna through the roof of the Opera House during the Festival of the Blade, executing the town's vicar Sanctus and slaying several Holy Knights who try to subdue him. Nero, one of the Holy Knights, enraged that his love-interest Kyrie has been endangered, interrupts Dante and keeps him busy until Kyrie and her brother Credo can escape. After a brief fight with Nero, Dante reveals to him that the slain knights were actually demons, and leaves with a cryptic message to Nero, claiming that "We’re the same...you and...I...and them [the fallen knights]. Though I suspect you carry something different from the others". He then leaves Nero and heads for Fortuna Castle. On Credo's orders, Nero follows Dante, catching up to him at the entrance to Mitis Forest. However, Dante escapes by falling from the cliff into the forest. Nero finally confronts Dante within the Order's headquarters, but Nero no longer seeks to capture Dante because he has been betrayed by the Order. However, Dante challenges him for his brother's sword, Yamato, which Nero now possesses. After an intense battle, Nero at last gets the upper hand, but then Dante easily knocks Nero off, making Nero realize that Dante has been playing with him from the beginning. Dante explains that Yamato is the key to the Demon World, but allows Nero to continue using the sword because Nero needs it to rescue Kyrie.

However, Nero is absorbed by the Order's partly awakened The Savior, which is controlled by the revived Sanctus. Credo is mortally wounded trying to stop Sanctus, and the Yamato is taken by the Order's scientist, Agnus, to open the true Hell Gate in Fortuna. At the dying Credo's request, Dante follows The Savior back to town to rescue Nero and Kyrie after sending Trish to help the citizens escape to safety. Along the way, he kills Echidna, Dagon, and Berial, destroys the three fake Hell Gates they had emerged from, and obtains the Devil Arms that had powered the gates. Once he returns to the Opera House where this all began, he finds Agnus. The two fight, ending with Dante killing Agnus. Dante recovers the Yamato, closes the Hell Gate, and destroys it.

This catches the attention of Sanctus, who attempts to kill Dante using The Savior. However, Dante is able to weaken The Savior enough that he can reawaken Nero by returning the Yamato to him. Dante continues to distract The Savior while Nero tracks down Sanctus and slays him. Nero succeeds and breaks free of The Savior with Kyrie and the Sparda in his hands. However, before Dante could drag away an apology from Nero, The Savior reawakens as The False Savior, a much weakened version created by the weapon's merge with Sanctus. Nero hands Dante the Sparda, and attacks the atrocity with his Devil Bringer, destroying it.

When the battle is finally over, Nero thanks Dante for his help. Afterwards, he attempts to return the Yamato to Dante, but tells him to keep it.

"Nero: 'What…? I thought this meant a lot to you...?' Dante: 'That’s the only kind of gift worth giving. I want to entrust it to you, and so I am. What you do from here is your call.'"

Nero asks if he will meet Dante again, but Dante leaves without a word.

After Dante returns to his shop, Lady enters and thanks Dante and Trish for helping her by eliminating the Order. She hands them the case with their payment, but it is revealed to contain only a few banknotes. Against Trish's protests, Lady claims that it was her fault that the situation got out of hand. Dante calms them down by commenting: "We take what we can get, right?". Suddenly, the phone rings, and Trish informs Dante that it is a customer with the password and is in the vicinity. Trish and Lady decide to come with Dante on this mission, and the scene ends.

Devil May Cry 2 novel
The second Devil May Cry novel, this story takes place immediately before the second game. Unlike DMC2, Dante retains his talkative, carefree personality from all of the other games and is allied with a woman named Beryl, who parallels Lady and wields a Spiral-like rifle.

Devil May Cry 2
Dante aids the character Lucia in defeating Arius, an international businessman who uses demonic power and seeks to conquer the world by attaining the power of Argosax the Chaos. At the end of the game, Dante must go into the demon world to stop a major demon from escaping, but the gate closes behind him and he is trapped. With no way back to the human world, Dante heads even deeper into the demon world on his motorcycle. There is an extra scene after the credits, in which Lucia is sitting in Dante's office when she hears a motorcycle outside and rushes out to see who it is. Whether this is Dante or not is unknown.

Devil May Cry novel
The Devil May Cry novel was originally written to explain Dante's past, but with the release Devil May Cry 3, major contradictions removed it from the continuity. It takes place immediately before the first game, with Dante going by the alias of Tony Redgrave. He has numerous encounters with a man named Gilver, who hides his face with numerous bandages and wields a katana. In the end, the man is revealed to be Vergil before he became brainwashed by Mundus.

Comics
Three issues of a comic adaptation of the first game were published by Canadian publisher Dreamwave Productions in 2004, but was left unfinished when the company went bankrupt in 2005. Although the comic loosely follows the plot of the first Devil May Cry game, it has major contradictions with the game (like Nelo Angelo's ability to speak) and is thus considered non-canonical. The third issue ended with Dante being knocked out by Trish.

Other Games
Dante has appeared in a number of other games. These include:
 * Shin Megami Tensei: Nocturne - Dante is hired to kill the player. He is recruitable to the party later on the game. This was in due to Kazama Kaneko, the character designer for the series including him in the game. In return, he was brought into designing the Devil Trigger forms for Devil May Cry 3.
 * Viewtiful Joe - Dante is playable in the PS2 version of the game and he must save Trish. He appears in the PSP version of Viewtiful Joe: Red Hot Rumble as a bonus character. He lends his biplane, Carnival, to Captain Blue for a scene in one of his movies and he and the player race to defeat the boss of the stage. His costumes are standard, blue coat, underwear and Plasma. In Viewtiful Joe, his in-game cutscene dialogue is spoken backwards, as is the case with all other unlockable characters.
 * Dante is a character card in SNK vs. Capcom: Card Fighter DS.
 * Dante will appear, along with Trish, in the upcoming game Marvel vs. Capcom 3: Fate of Two Worlds in his Devil May Cry 3 outfit. He is first seen in a trailer facing off against Deadpool. Aside from Rebellion and Ebony and Ivory, Dante makes use of Cerberus, Agni and Rudra, Nevan, Beowulf, Kalina Ann, Artemis and Coyote-A. And has been shown to use a bullet chain ending with his 'Jackpot' and his Devil Trigger, accompanied with Air Raid, as special moves.
 * Dante makes a cameo in Jedah Dohma's ending in Capcom Fighting Evolution.

Character Development
After the success of the first game, Capcom immediately began development of its sequel, Devil May Cry 2. Hideki Kamiya, who directed the first game, was not involved in the sequel's development and the new creative team took a different direction. Dante's character was changed so that he spoke little, and his cocky attitude was largely absent. He also had a habit of flipping a coin to make his decisions. The third game, Devil May Cry 3: Dante's Awakening, serves as a prequel to the first game and features a younger and cockier Dante. While developed by the same team that created Devil May Cry 2, Devil May Cry 3 was much better received than the previous installment for staying true to the original. Dante has considerably more dialogue during cutscenes, and players can verbally taunt monsters during gameplay.

Appearance
Devil May Cry started development as Resident Evil 4. Like his father and brother, Dante has white hair. It remains in a fairly consistent style throughout his appearances, although there are a few minor changes. In Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 4 his hair is somewhat parted with his bangs brushed down; in Devil May Cry 3 his hair is simply brushed down, and in Devil May Cry 2 his hair is parted with his bangs in front of his right eye. Dante's most obvious design trait is his affinity for red-colored apparel, in the form of a long, two tailed coat. Dante's coat is red because the color traditionally represents a heroic figure in Japanese culture. In Devil May Cry 3, the coat had zippers on the sleeves and a buckle around the waist, but after Dante's first battle with Vergil, the right sleeve is damaged and Dante tears it off. In the first game and the anime, the coat seems to be fairly plain with an upturned collar and short sleeves with black cuffs, though the coat lacks coattails. In Devil May Cry 4, the coat is given a much more detailed and stylish look, with oriental accents. Finally, in Devil May Cry 2, the coat has a more pronounced buckled collar and a black chestplate of sorts.

Personality
Earlier in the series' story, Dante is incredibly flippant, mouthing off to even the most powerful of demons, and he generally enjoys rubbing people the wrong way. He does mature as time goes by, but never really loses his attitude. Dante is seemingly unflappable, not showing fear whether he's being attacked by the Seven Hells in his office or being swallowed by a giant serpent demon. With the exception of Devil May Cry 2, Dante rarely shows any seriousness. He can be serious when the situation calls for it, but he still maintains a fairly laid-back demeanor during such situations and is never without a witty taunt or comeback. Dante can seem at times to be uncaring or even callous, but actually has a very strong sense of justice and prefers to fight fairly. He can be counted on to do the right thing, even if he makes cynical quips about it the entire time. Unusually, while he has issues with his own demonic side, Dante has little qualms about accepting demons who choose the side of good, such as Trish and Bradley. Though Dante is quoted as believing that "Humans are often worse than demons" in the anime, he refuses to kill full-blooded humans for any reason. Dante values family and friends very highly. He cared deeply for his mother and, despite their differences, he also cared for Vergil. Even after all the fighting the two did over the course of Devil May Cry 3, Dante still tried to save him when he (Vergil) was falling into the Demon World, and even went as far as to cry over losing him.

Despite verbally complaining about being in debt, Dante seems quite willing to perform missions solely for the good of them, and rarely enforces payment from poor clients. In fact, Dante will typically refuse any job he dislikes, regardless of how much it pays, but will immediately take on any paranormal cases (especially those involving demon hunting), with or without pay. Many of his clients take advantage of this good nature of his, and leave bills for property damage caused during the mission instead of paying for his services. He often borrows from Lady or gambles to repay these debts. However, he has extremely bad luck with gambling, and loses any game not involved with demon hunting. As a result he is horribly in debt to Lady, and is often left with no money at all after she takes her cut. However, in Devil May Cry 4 Lady actually pays him a small amount for his "assistance", implying that he no longer owes her money.

Dante has a fondness for pizza, and while he complains about olives, he always ends up with them on his pizza. His liking for pizza was added because the director believes that pizza is the "best food ever". In the animated series, he is also shown to favor strawberry sundaes. He has a habit of getting roaring drunk; in the first volume of the manga, he mentions getting so drunk that he proposed to a mop.

Abilities and Weapons
Dante possesses power that surpasses that of most demons. He has enough superhuman physical strength to punch through stone with little difficulty, and often overpowers demons much larger than himself. Dante is super-humanly fast, capable of moving faster than the eye can see, and also extremely agile; able to jump to great heights or even to balance on a flying rocket. He is able to channel his power into various physical objects, ranging from his guns to the air itself. Dante can instantly heal from nearly any wound; even the Hell Prides were surprised when he mostly ignored their attack on him at the beginning of Devil May Cry 3. Dante has been shown to survive wounds that would kill a normal human, such as being impaled through the chest with his own sword (something that happens to him during almost every game) or being shot point-blank in the head.

On top of his incredible demonic powers, Dante has also proven himself to be an extremely capable combatant. He has shown incredible proficiency with many types of weapons including several different types of swords, nunchaku, gauntlets, and a scythe/guitar hybrid, displaying near mastery of them within moments of picking them up. He has also shown some skill in unarmed combat, managing to disarm and subdue Nero bare-handed in their second fight. He also displays impeccable shooting skills. He has been shown able to flawlessly hit targets as small as the pommel of his sword, and can shoot other peoples bullets out of mid-air. Dante is also shown to have incredible hand-eye coordination; for example, he kicks the Neo-Generator into the statue above the bridge approximately 20 feet away from where he stands in Devil May Cry 3, and kicks the seed of Echidna the She-Viper back at her to get her attention in Devil May Cry 4. Dante is rarely shown to struggle in battle and wins most of his fights with such ease that it often seems as though he were merely toying with his opponent, though he has been defeated by Vergil on two occasions. He is also seemingly defeated by Nero at the beginning of Devil May Cry 4, but at their second encounter he reveals that he had underestimated Nero, and after fighting again, Nero speculates that Dante had just been playing with him.

Thanks to his half-demon nature, Dante can release his demon power through his Devil Trigger. The appearance of this form varies throughout the games — in Devil May Cry and Devil May Cry 3, the form is influenced by which Devil Arm he carries, while in Devil May Cry 2 and Devil May Cry 4 he has a pair of Devil Forms believed to be his "true" Devil form. These forms usually increase his speed and give him slow regeneration, and sometimes grant him new abilities, like flying.

In Devil May Cry 4, it is implied that Dante's strength is not just due to his father, but also from his will to protect others. After Dante defeats Agnus, Dante tells him that the reason he's inferior is because Agnus surrendered his humanity. It is suggested that any demon who possesses the will to protect and love others rather than to simply destroy will gain the full might of their demonic power, though Dante, Vergil, and Nero may simply be exceptions due to possessing both human souls and demonic power. Dante also makes this statement to a demon named Sid near the end of the Animated Series.

Dante's trademark weapons are the Rebellion, Sparda (Force Edge), and Ebony & Ivory. He has also used a shotgun in every title in the series, though its exact form changes throughout the games. Over the course of the past four games, Dante has collected a wide variety of weapons in addition to his regular arsenal, ranging from a curious electric guitar and several pairs of gauntlets to twin submachine guns and a demonic briefcase able to transform into 666 powerful forms. He keeps many weapons and trophies displayed within his office, so it is likely that he keeps old weapons there as well.

Devil May Cry 4
While the first encounter serves entirely tutorial purposes, the second fight is much harder, as you can't deal with him as with all previous bosses. It should be noted that, on higher modes, battle in Mission 1 could be difficult, as it becomes much as the Mission 10 encounter.

Background
Dante's name comes from Dante Alighieri, who was a great Florentine poet of the Middle Ages. His central work, Divine Comedy, is often referenced or used as a background throughout Devil May Cry series.

Trivia

 * Interestingly, Dante is impaled by his own sword in every installment (excluding DMC 2) by an opponent. In DMC, Trish pins him to the floor with the Force Edge. He also gets stabbed by Alastor. In DMC3, Vergil stabs him with the Rebellion. In the anime, Sid impales him through the heart on a cross. In DMC4, after hurling Dante into the Sparda statue, Nero spears him with the Rebellion.
 * Dante's English voice actor, Reuben Langdon, also voices Ken in Street Fighter IV, another Capcom character who also predominantly wears red, and motion captures the character Chris Redfield, a character from the Resident Evil series. Fyrthermore, Dante's seiyu in the anime, Toshiyuki Morikawa, also voiced Ryu in the Street Fighter series.
 * Dante appears to have experience with instruments, especially those associated with rock bands, judging by his demonstration with the Devil Arm guitar Nevan. He also has a drum set (which is visible in every game) and a guitar in his office.
 * Recently in an interview, Hideki Kamiya answered who would win in a battle between Dante and Bayonetta, another character he had created from "Bayonetta", due to their similar personalities and capabilities. He said that Bayonetta would be victorious quite easily, actually.
 * Ragna the Bloodedge, the main character from the fighting game series, BlazBlue, is often compared to Dante, due to their similar appearance and the nature of their powers. In the Blazblue Material Collection, a nod is made to this as a sketch of a shocked Ragna is holding the Rebellion, Dante's signature sword. Coincidentally, Rebellion is also the name of his theme song in BlazBlue: Calamity Trigger OST.